The power of social media has proven life changing for a Kennesaw woman. After nearly two decades of searching for her father, Facebook finally brought the two together.

Juana Valadez says she owes a lot to Facebook. All it took was a single message that reconnected her with her father who lives in North Dakota.

A newborn baby and the loss of her mother is what motivated Valadez to start searching for answers about her dad.

"I looked at people search, and they only gave me one number for him and that number was disconnected," said Valadez.

After her mom's death, she turned to Facebook. Valadez typed in the name of who she believed was her father's wife.

"I look on the page and she's got a couple of pictures. And one that stood out to me was I've loved you for 17 years and it's been 17 years since I've seen my dad," Valadez said.

She was 7 years old when her parents separated and her father moved away from Georgia. She says her mother didn't allow her to have contact with her father.

The 24-year-old mother sent a Facebook message asking if she could be the daughter of Jose Valadez. The answer was yes and after a few online exchanges, she and her long lost father spoke over the phone for the first time in nearly two decades.

"I broke out in tears, and I get on the phone and he's like I can't believe this is happening," said Valadez.

"You can see water in my eyes just by talking about it. It's awesome. Every time I talk to her I feel so much emotion, so great," said Jose Valadez.

The two say thank you to the social media site that brought an entire family back together.

"If it wasn't for Facebook, I don't even know how I would get in contact with him," said Juana.

Jose Valadez plans to come visit his daughter next weekend. No doubt, the two have a lot of catching up to do.

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